Maldon & Distirct CC SPOCO 25 mile TT

Sunday 10th May

58 riders faced the timekeeper to ride the Maldon & District CC ’25’ on Sunday 10 May. 3 VCR riders climbed into their skinsuits for this one; Paul Dewberry, Darren Frostick and Julian Stock.

In what were almost perfect racing conditions, this SPOCO qualifying event was held on the sporting E21/25 course at Steeple and absorbed many of the roads used for the promoting club‘s road race promotion earlier in the season.

Off at a seeded number 5, Darren negotiated the early headwinds well on the eastward leg towards Burnham-on-Sea and his minute-man was soon to catch a glimpse of Darren’s Terry Dolan Low Profile machine perhaps a little sooner than anticipated. Keeping the power and consistency going on the remainder of the course which included 2 tailwind-assisted return legs back towards Steeple with a harder, longer stretch eastwards again towards Asheldham in the middle, Darren finished with a time of 1:01:17.

Continuing in his quest for SPOCO points, Paul was off at number 28 and was soon into his stride and eating up the miles. Riding on normal road race wheels and feeling in need of some time-trial specific hoops, he too kept his ride steady and consistent and despite being caught by seeded rider Colin Wilgress (no 30), Paul finished with a respectable time of 1:05:59.

Still trying to find some consistency in his performances and having ridden poorly at the Colchester Rovers evening ‘10’ during the previous week, Julian was off 3 minutes behind Paul at number 31. He found his focus quickly, settled into his tucked aero position and began to turn on the speed, especially on the return leg with most of it being ridden in a gear of 54 x 14.

                         Copyright © Simon Gooderham  Photography

Julian too continued to knuckle down to the tougher easterly leg and managed to catch 2 riders within the last 5 miles and finished with a time of 1:03:54. Whilst he didn’t consider his performance super-fast, he did feel that, technically, it was one of his best time trial rides for many years. Winner on the day was Paul Smith (PCA Ciclos Uno) in 55:42.

On a nice sunny day with only a breeze in the air, Paul, Darren and Julian had all enjoyed a good day’s racing. To cap off a good morning, Paul and Julian spotted VCR Club Secretary and Treasurer Alan Lawrence out training and duly wound down the car window for a brief chat as they all headed for home.